Ergon's new rates are live: cheaper flat power, a smaller Soaker peak, and free midday power on the new tariff

Back in April I wrote that the Solar Soaker peak was set to drop this July, and that I’d do a proper write-up once the numbers were locked in. They’re locked in. The QCA signed off Ergon’s new prices in early June and they’ve been live on your meter since 1 July.

It turned out to be a bigger shake-up than just the Soaker peak. The flat rate fell, the feed-in fell, and there’s a brand new tariff with free power in the middle of the day. Here’s the lot.

Housekeeping first: every figure below is an Ergon residential rate for 2026-27, includes GST, and is rounded. Rates change every July. Check your own bill for exact numbers.

The flat rate dropped. A lot.

Tariff 11, the default flat rate most households are on, fell from around 36c/kWh last year to about 29c/kWh. Same price all day, no smart meter needed, nothing to manage.

That one’s a straight win for everyone, solar or not. If you do nothing else, your next bill should already look better.

But it also shifts the maths on everything else below, so keep reading.

Solar Soaker (Tariff 12E): the peak came down, the shape didn’t

Same three blocks as before, new numbers:

11am to 4pm: still about 7c/kWh. The cheap daytime sponge window is unchanged. Ergon still wants you burning power in the middle of the day.
4pm to 9pm peak: just over 47c/kWh, down from around 57c. In April I said the draft pointed to roughly 46c. The final landed a touch higher.
Everything else: about 26c/kWh shoulder.

Couple of things buried in that.

First, the peak is still close to seven times the off-peak rate. The whole battery play up here, charge cheap in the middle of the day and ride through the expensive evening, hasn’t gone anywhere.

Second, the shoulder used to sit about 10c under flat Tariff 11. Now that flat has dropped to 29c, the shoulder is only about 3c cheaper. So the case for 12E without a battery got weaker, and the case for 12E with a battery got more focused: it’s all about dodging that 4 to 9 peak.

One detail people miss: the time-of-use tariffs also carry a slightly cheaper daily supply charge than flat T11.

The new one: Tariff 12F, the “Solar Sharer”

Brand new for 2026-27, and the most interesting card Ergon has dealt in years:

11am to 2pm: free. Actually free, up to 24 kWh a day. Past the cap it’s about 8c.
2pm to 4pm: about 8c/kWh.
4pm to 9pm peak: about 49c/kWh. Steeper than the Soaker’s peak.
9pm to 11am: about 26c/kWh covering the whole night and morning.

Needs a smart meter, same as 12E.

Free power sounds great, and it can be, but look at the trade. The free window is funded by a nastier evening peak and a 26c rate across every night and morning hour. If you can’t move serious load into that 11 to 2 window, you’ll come out behind flat T11.

Who can actually use it:

Battery owners, more than anyone. Charge the battery from the grid for free at lunchtime, then run the evening off stored power. In the wet season, when a week of monsoon cloud knocks your panels down, filling the battery for $0 instead of buying 29c power is a real safety net.
Pool owners. A pool pump on a timer running 11 to 2 costs literally nothing.
Hot water, EV charging, anything on a smart switch. This is the tariff that load-shifting gear was built for.

Whether 12F beats 12E for your place depends entirely on your usage shape and your gear. That’s a bring-me-your-bills question.

Feed-in dropped again

The feed-in tariff fell from 8.66c to a whisker over 6c/kWh. The trend continues: midday solar keeps getting less valuable to export because the grid is swimming in it.

The gap is getting silly. Export a kWh in the afternoon and you get 6c for it. Buy one back at 5pm on the Soaker and it costs you 47c. On the new Sharer peak, 49c.

That gap, roughly eight to one, is exactly what a battery closes. Every July the export side goes down and the story tilts further toward using your own power instead of selling it. This July tilted it again.

A quick word on the demand tariff

There’s also a residential demand option (Tariff 14) with cheaper usage rates all day, but a monthly charge of about $8 per kW based on your highest demand between 4 and 9pm. One bad evening, aircon plus oven plus pool pump at 6pm, sets that charge for the whole month.

With a battery and smart controls it can pencil out. Without them it’s a trap. If someone’s pitching it to you, talk to me first.

So which tariff should you be on?

Rough guide, not gospel:

No solar: flat T11 just got cheaper. Probably stay put, unless you can shift a lot of load into the middle of the day.
Solar, no battery: T11 or 12E depending on how much you’re home during the day. With feed-in at 6c, what matters is using your own generation instead of exporting it.
Solar plus battery: 12E or the new 12F. Which one wins comes down to your evening load and whether you can use the free window. Either way you’re set up to dodge the peak entirely.

Ergon has rules about how and when you can switch between tariffs, so it’s worth getting the choice right rather than churning. Bring me your last few bills and I’ll tell you straight which one suits how you live. That part’s free, and we handle the Ergon paperwork for you.

Bottom line

Cheaper flat power for everyone. A smaller but still expensive evening peak. Feed-in still falling. And a free lunch window for households with the gear to use it.

If you’ve been waiting for a sign on batteries, this is what the market says every July: power in the middle of the day is nearly worthless, power in the evening is expensive, and the box that moves energy from one to the other keeps making more sense. Savings depend on your roof, usage, and tariff, and are indicative only pending on-site assessment.

If you want to know which tariff suits your place, or you’ve got a quote from someone else and want a free second look from a sparky who’s installed plenty of these around the Whitsundays, send it through here or call 0410 454 044.

Madison